Bioshock Illogic
Sitemap BioShock Game Illogic * See Also Infinite_Stupidity * See Also Choice * See Also Protectors_Too_Soon * See Also BS2_Observations * See Also War_Measures ---- Too Weird or Not Too Weird (That is The Question) ' : * 'Tears' - Yeah those happen every day .... Wait!!! One just happened!!! ... Oh Hi Ken ... Why are You dressed as Harpo Marx ? ... OK back to normal now. ... Freakin Tears, always interrupting when ur on the phone ... * A Floating City that defies Physics -- You do realize that all those cartoons on TV and Movies aren't real. Don't you ??? * Bunch of Crows fly out of your Hands after you drink a bottle of quack patent medicine -- That's called Hallucination (I can still tell cuz I never took drugs.) They tried to Copy the 'Bees Hand' thing ... * Its NOT 'a few lines' of game detail spew. Check out all the other trailers and detailed interviews (I should create a page listing the whole passel of them.) * Yes, genetic engineering could, within the laws of physics have you throwing Fireballs (you never seen a 'fire-eater' spit flame ? And THAT was WITHOUT genetic engineering's help). See the other [[Making Plasmids More Sci-Fi|posting on this Wiki]] on this subject explaining why it could work (thus it being Sci-Fi and not requiring bad Fantasy 'magic'). * ''Ghosts ? The whole Lady Comstock thing. On the other hand Jack was 'conditioned' with fake images, his mind was conditioned to see with imperfect inputs. Why shouldn't he not discern between real and such images ??? Daydreaming as a side-effect of ADAM use ? Try reading some of the side-effects of many modern drugs these days. Fanbois, your excitement is fine, but don't expect everyone else to have it. Even in 'magic', things can be done wrongly/illogically/bad. Gamemakers Betrayal for CASH ? I understand very well the desire to milk the BioShock name to make money and the use of Hype by game companies to try to sway customers. I also understand that it is easier to use Fantasy as a '''crutch when you have to make a Blast-fest game, one for which the majority of Players don't give a wit about realism or logic. Its the exceptional game company that DOESN'T resort to such things. ---- ITS THAT FRICKING FAKE THOUGHT EXPERIMENT STUFF AGAIN !!!! ''' : Really, you are supposed to learn things from Thought Experiments. The only thing learned from any/all in Infinite BS was '''WHAT NOT TO DO MAKING A GAME, OR that : Nothing You Do Actually Matters -- As it is all just Predestined Fate with no responsibility, or that all you do in the game can be instantly Destroyed/Erased by Fantasy-empowered Meddlers. Not a great epic story is it ? ----- NO lesson learned. ---- Illogic be Legion -- Rapture's Storyline Isnt Exactly 'Watertight' : Rapture's Welcome Mat : Was it not rather stupid to leave a Bathysphere at the surface (Lighthouse Station) where it might be a bit of a clue of Rapture's existence?? (Ryan is supposed to be paranoid, Right ??? Well isn't this evidence he wasn't quite as paranoid as they (the writers) tried to lay it on ?? Or just that they never bother much with logic when they get a plot going ?) If that Bathysphere was sent there for his (Jack's) arrival (in case it wasn't normally left there), then that should have told Ryan his system wasn't as locked down and someone (Atlas ?) was upto something (I actually think the whole Suicide thing by Ryan should have really been a setup/scam against Fontaine/Atlas, where Ryan has figured it all out and turned the tables (faked HIS own death) -- It certainly would have been a more Epic Twist, and could justify odd things like having a Bathysphere obviously waiting for Jack). Maybe if it arrives suddenly when Jack is there and Atlas tells him to 'kindly' get in ?? Maybe if it was one of the old Smuggling subs ?? Maybe the whole Arrival Scene thing was just more 'memories', and Jack never left Rapture ??? ---- ' 'The Fix Is IN' - BioShock's Rapture A Poorly Contrived Failtopia :' Alot of the pre-civil-war developing 'misery' in Rapture seems quite contrived. I would have attributed it more to the disruptions which Fontaine/ADAM caused, versus that 'forgotten workers' stuff. They would have been originally told they would eventually need Other Work when the city was finished. Crazy people (via ADAM) soon lose their jobs and crazy people are even moreso likely to blame someone else for their situation (even more than they do in OUR world). Rapture's immigrants were told how the place (Rapture) was to work BEFORE they arrived or even accepted the invitation (weren't they told up front they could NOT leave ?? That should have been emphasised.). Construction workers had to know that City construction would eventually end, and they would need to get other jobs (and there would have been far more (tech oriented) machine operators than hand laborers required in the building of Rapture). The selection process would have discarded people who likely couldn't adapt - Ryan wasn't stupid about this (he couldn't be with all he had achieved). People can be retrained, and many real world people did just that (ie- soldiers in the real world after demobilization of WW2). The original Games emphasized the 'whiners' (to force their plot), but really do not show the vast majority of Raptures Citizens who had No Problems with this issue (as they had seen fit to look ahead and adapt and redirect their efforts toward keeping employed). A small minority can disrupt many things easily if allowed their way - especially if specifically organized to be destructive (and being empowering with ADAM was more than conventional methods could handle). Ryan might not have liked 'feeding parasites', but he didn't stop Fontaine or Sofia Lamb (and probably many others) from doing so with their own 'charities'. But NOTE the real lesson - Neither of those did it to help anyone but themselves - The True Parasite is someone who causes and facilitates Parasitism in others, for True Parasite's own personal benefit. Would Ryan have rejected Benevolent Societies - which VOLUNTARILY help others who are subject to unfortunate circumstances and stabilize society to a basic level and head off greater problems that cost society more? If they fit in and didnt disrupt the rest of his City's operations whould he really care? ---- Cuz the Plot Says So : The artistry and achievement of this MMORPG would be to NOT have to resort to "Cuz the Plot Says So", but instead to have actual reasons and cohesion of explanations for the bigger Rapture story. The original material would preferably be adhered to as 'facts' (for the most part WHERE THEY ARE FACT). But there is much left unexplained, undefined and unspecified. This allows for many additions to fill-in and MAKE the MMORPGs overall storytelling cohesive and explainable. That would be the goal and a good challenge. Of course, there are some original game elements which are contradictory, which cannot be explained away, and need to be revised/corrected. Some details seen in the original story materials could be taken as 'partial or incorrect because it was presented as from some characters 'point of view' OR a faulty interpretation (ie- many of the Audio-Diaries). For much of it, there are gaps, which if filled-in could drastically improve the games situational consistency and provide more realistic explanations of what should have happened. ---- BioShock - Its Over-Contrived Story Could Have Been Far Better : ' One thing you have to understand about Bioshock 1 and 2 - was that they are blast-fest FPS First Person Shooter game genre games, set in a PURPOSELY create Dystopia/Fail-topia (the plot says so, ''cuz you gotta kill lotsa people without it being immoral or 'wrong'). Mutants are the Politically Correct targets du jour. Ryan rants against "altruism"; ( ex- url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f18NWnxRmjI /url ), yet his very building of Rapture as a city for others to thrive in. Altruistic - is it not? He is a billionaire who could have built an Eden for himself alone (apart from the servants and friends) if he had wished. The developers make him a patsy for their desired failure of Objectivism and Capitalism. They have Ryan do extremely illogical things -- for someone who was a successful industrialist (ie- someone who WOULD know how to handle 'workers' and create successful projects/solutions). But Rapture MUST FAIL, or there would be no game (of the typical FPS slaughter type anyway...). So they sloppily put together the plot situation, systematically setting up Objectivism/Libertarianism and Capitalism as 'a failure'. What they contrived/fabricated though was not quite logical. Construction workers supposedly are out of work and fuel rebellion, but why would Ryan let them in to stay with that very predictable outcome ? Workers would have been told the city's construction would eventually end, and they would HAVE to move on to new occupations in Rapture (and it was made VERY clear up front to everyone who went to Rapture that NOONE could leave). Such things would be planned for, and Ryan would NOT be ignorant of handling the eventualities. But it is far more simple to intentionally pre-create Rapture broken - it is all supposed to FAIL - the plot says so, so it was MADE to fail. Period. ADAM is discovered, and soon is shown to have terrifying long term effects. Yet, if you follow what the game designers lay out, most people in Rapture suddenly started using it wholesale (the common sense of REAL people seems discounted by the designers). And THEN Ryan takes over the ADAM industry and continues its sales, when it is ALREADY known to have side effects making people deformed and murderously insane, creating Splicers who will threaten the whole economy/society's survival. (( Yes, sure, its sooooo logical that Ryan would encourage even more dangerous ADAM use and more Splicers to be running about in the streets. '')) The designers give Ryan no better alternatives to the problems ADAM has caused. They load the deck against him. They have Ryan declare "'I make only one law" (which makes it sound like Rapture has NO LAWS). Smuggling he makes illegal, as it effectively is Treason because of the risk to Secrecy the city NEEDS to survive. No Laws? How can you have a modern city without any kind of commercial contract enforcement (via laws) ? How can you maintain any order in the streets if anyone can do whatever they want? Contradictorily, the story has 'Constables' in Rapture. What exactly are these Constables supposed to enforce when they maintain order - IF there are 'no' laws ?? A sloppy writer contrivance -- the City could hardly get built under such a societal system, let alone sustain itself for over more than a decade. Any significant social institution, to maintain order, is avoided/minimized by the writers in the story. Security - is made to look like a bunch of goons working for Ryan. The 'City Council' (which should have been an institutional center of authority) is basically without power, and is portrayed to only do what Ryan wants (consider nothing much is shown of its previous activity BEFORE the Terrorist Rebellion starts). It is very convenient that Ryan never could invoked public health measures -- When Fontaine starts foisting the addictive substance on the population (Oh, there must be self-responsibility ... The criminal who is pushing the stuff "Is just an entrepreneur, so Let the Buyer Beware", yada yada ...). It is so odd that the ADAM-caused insanity doesn't seem to ever be noticed after YEARS of ADAM use in Rapture, but it manifests itself just as Ryan has Fontaine pinned for the crime of Smuggling. Too late (conveniently) ADAM is finally understood by all to create murderous insanity - JUST IN TIME for Ryan to be blamed for it. Then after a terrorist attack the whole city gobbles down every bit of ADAM 'To Protect Themselves' against the Splicer anarchists Atlas the alleged Liberator is facilitating. SO CONVENIENT : For years, Ryan was unable to pin a huge Smuggling operation on Fontaine - quite unlikely in a place as small as Rapture. Fontaine's gangsterism is somehow completely missed (his murdering of business rivals and strong-arming those in his way would be rather hard to ignore/overlook). Doing something about that crime earlier would have stopped the criminal's rise, his Splicer gang/army would never have happened -- itis quite convenient, quite contrived - so that logic is avoided by the writers. Later, there is a 'civil war' in-progress, with an enemy (Atlas) seeking to destroy/steal everything Ryan has built, making the Chaos/Disruptions his Splicers have caused, somehow Ryan's fault. The economy is being wrecked, people WILL starve or be murdered in the streets. Ryan finally puts War Measures into place, and all you hear in-game are voices griping about how Ryan has compromised his principles/philosophy (instead of calling for him to EXTERMINATE THE Terrorist Element). This population largely arrived in Rapture just after WW2, so would have had better understanding than most Players and the Game Designers who make the character mouth THEIR Contemporary point of view. Ryan (as an Objectivist) had done little interference at first, allowing people time to work out the problems themselves. After the threat grows worse, he finally takes direct action to end the destruction, and HE is now labeled (by the writers) a 'Tyrant' (AND is given Little of the very-likely support for what Ryan is doing/called upon to do). Ryan as a story contrivance is "Damned if he Does, and Damned if he Doesn't". Many of Ryan's "loyal" supporters (in the game) abandon/betray him, or even seek to kill him (and side with Atlas who stands for things most of the people in Rapture LEFT the Surface to get away from). How convenient. Such loyalty. Such contrived stupidity. McDonagh's --- "Lets hand the weapon of Splicer Mayhem to 'Fontaine's boys' " is one of the stupidest of all. Why not have him instead say : "Lets shut that whole F*cking poison industry down" ??? (They could have had that intention in the story, BUT still not happen soon enough for the required game mayhem to still occur). The most absurd thing of all : Andrew Ryan effectively committing Suicide by ordering you (the Player) to kill him while under the Mind Control he has discovered. At that point, Ryan has already pretty much won the 'civil war', and is closing in on the bad guy (Fontaine/Atlas), whose Splicer army has all but been neutralized/turned against Atlas). But Ryan suddenly is a QUITTER -- AFTER he has mostly restored Order, and NOW has a chance to rebuild HIS City. HE now could control the ADAM and Splicers, and then Find a Cure for its negative effects or even eventually eliminate it totally. Ryan FAKING HIS OWN DEATH, like Fontaine had, would have been an Epic Twist - one HUGE THING the designers/writers/Levine completely missed. All so absurd. Bioshock's (the game's) logic holes can be explained simply by a "good enuf" mentality on the part of the designers/writers/Levine, who could have made a much more cohesive/logical story -- IF they cared to (AND actually with little extra effort). Great games achieve such things. Instead, BioShock pulls the 'stupid' Player around by the nose, via a hackneyed story and induces the Players to see 'enemies' (they need targets to shoot, of course), and to yank them through some crude plot 'Twists' and the largely meaningless 'Moral Choices'. All in all, it resulted in a fancy Shooting Gallery with all the ducks tied in place. Game of the Year ... ??? That's Grading on a Curve (just evidence how game makers these days have hit a mediocre plateau ?) ---- Story Distortions With Intent - "The Disappeared" : There can be all kinds of chaos during 'wars' (and terrorism), and moreso with ADAM insanity ontop of it. Even in a small closed City, people could/would disappear. The game writers seem intent to imply that these pictured people were 'disappeared' by the alleged 'tyrant' Ryan, even though it is NEVER actually said that was true, or possibly why. ( As one of the most effective methods of terrifying a population - is not just to murder people randomly in the streets, but to make them disappear entirely. Both the Soviets and the Nazis used that tactic). But it does seem strange that it is pictures of the same people over and over (within the display and in every one of the spots they are posted). Atlas/Fontaine might use such 'disappeared' tactics with his Splicers to achieve his goals. Large numbers of citizens would not support Atlas (most people like order, and not starving, and not being threatened and murdered, and didn't have the complaints of some malcontents Atlas 'employed' and amplified/used to foment unrest with). He would need to terrorize THOSE PEOPLE to control Rapture. Ryan had jails in Persephone to dump people working for Atlas. With the violence that Atlas's minions caused, it was a prudent act. Apollo Square looks like it was closed off because Atlas hid there frequently, and it was too much of a warren to control directly -- not quite a 'concentration camp', more like an uncontrollable hazardous slum (the kind police avoid), best walled off to protect the rest of Rapture. Ironic would be : Most of those people in the pictures had been 'disappeared' by the actions of Atlas, while at the same time he encourages/orders his minions to create such walls in his propaganda campaign. - Consider that many Splicers faces may no longer be recognizable, and if insane, enough might not be able to disclose/remember their identity. So, many of the 'Lost' may have simply become nameless (and faceless) Splicers. ---- The Writer's Vague Illogical Way To Drum Up Class Warfare : The Deck is Stacked. The given story details are just assumed to be the case ... Basic Economics is ignored/avoided in the game. The REAL Laws of Economics are almost as rigid as the Laws of Physics. The "Wealthy" are trapped in Rapture as much as anyone else. There is a reason its called "The Social Contract", because there are two sides to it. Wealthy people have ALWAYS had to mind this. The 'wealthy' can starve, freeze to death, have their toilets eventually plug up, or be shunned to death quite well when they didn't compromise and instead played too nasty. The 'Rich' would not lower the rents ? Then THEY don't collect any rents from all the 'poor' who can no longer pay fixed 'high' rents. Lack of Paid Maintenance eventually destroys the Wealthy's property. Upkeep payments continue to need to be paid by the 'rich' whwther they have income or not. The 'Rich' didn't pay sufficient wages ? Then noone competent is working for them and they go out of business (Or anyone skilled goes into business for themselves - a freedom which is allowed in Rapture). Prices can go up for the Rich when things no longer get done - Money becomes worthless when a majority of people start bartering. Customers all shift to buying/trading for basic sustinance and avoid buying things from other stores the 'Rich' are likely to own. 'The Rich' didn't catch fish. The fishermen (and farmers) had the upper hand if you want a truly manipulative pricewar (or a counter to 'the rich' being too greedy). "The Rich" also then find nobody trustworthy to guard/protect their property. The 'Rich'/ 'Wealthy' have the most to lose. HISTORICALLY they have been through such things before, so know that it isn't worth it to try to 'control' things unfairly. They still have lots of stuff and WANT their lifestyle to continue, but that is only allowed as long as Society functions. If you want to a Dystopia setting for a game, then you should do it with realistic details instead of alot of lazy inconsiderate writing. ---- A BS1 Truly Ignorant Scene : The Crashed Airplane Body Scene : With the hole open to the Sea via the airplane tail section crashed through the viaduct. It IS wrong because that whole interior space was NOT instantly filled with the water rushing in (Hundreds of pounds per square inch Pressure would cause it to fill almost instantly with a hole that big) AND with that aluminium airplane hull supposedly (laughably) holding out that water (IT would be crushed like an eggshell too). That whole thing about that lightweight airframe, which is hardly more than tinfoil, smashing the heavily constructed viaduct structure (something constructed to be secure against the NORMAL 280 pounds per square inch Sea Water pressure) is equally preposterous. If the window glass is so brittle, then there ALSO would have been constant destruction EVERYWHERE in Rapture -- from the start in 1946, obliterating too much of the city. Its great looking story/scene (tying in the airplane), except they could/should have come up with something plausible to have the same STORYBOARDED SCENE effect INSTEAD of this contrived technically-impossible claptrap. (A deattched Engine cracking a window might have served - except you can't "walk through" that). (( '' Rapture was NOT Supposed to be Fantasy. 'Artists' can be such fricking incredibly ingnorant Dufuses and Managers can be careless tards.Woody Allen Joke - "What do you mean by 'Such'" ? '' )) --- --- --- ' "Uprising" or "Terrorism", Not 'Civil War' ' : Was Rapture ever really in a 'civil war', or was it more simply being menaced by a destructive/disruptive mob, many mentally-unhinged by ADAM-abuse, encouraged by Anarchists, largely committing acts of terrorism - roused into unrestrained rage and pushed to forward a power grab by Atlas (Fontaine)? If you disrupt too much in Rapture everyone dies (much less damage is required than on the Surface -- It doesn't take that much or that many to cause catastrophe). When Food, Air, Heat, Electricity fail, there is environmental collapse, and Rapture becomes a "Cold Wet Dark Tomb". Ryan seems to have done a sufficient job of preventing that from happening. BUT when Ryan has Atlas 'on the run' by the time of BS1 THEN the writers turn him into a "Surrender Monkey". What solutions did Atlas ever offer any majority of Rapture's citizen's ? How many sane people could he really sway to his side ? Perhaps only ADAM-addled people would listen - when given undeserved and insincere promises, that would only sway a minority (but enough to bring mayhem to Rapture). --- --- --- That TOO Handy Radio : The Sinclair MetaPhone (One of those useful products that Sinclair specialized in ...) - a Radio Phone, being a bit of a "brick" -- which actually that 'Radio' Jack carried around with him WAS ALSO. Boy oh Boy, Jack musta been fumbling around with that huge brick in his 'other hand' all the time (see Walkie-Talkiehttps://swisscows.com/image?query=WW2%20Walkie-Talkie -- those old war movies with the soldiers using the big WW2/Korean war Walkie-Talkies ???) Even today, most people have to hold their celphone up to their ear and mouth to use. So Jack left that Radio ON to be able to receive Atlas's (and everyone else's) communications all the time ??? You know how noisy that can be - the 'squawk' and static sounds - Perfect for attracting the attentions of every Splicer in the vicinity. So its mighty Strange how that wasn't the case, yes ? Elsewhere I've explained those 'Radios' are actually part of a repeater system -- interconnected via cables (due to how miserably Radio Waves go through Water and Cement/Metal walls). Perhaps, besides the areas you traversed (in BS1) NOT being in Ryan's Secured parts of the City, they were also places where Atlas could be sure he could tap into the local Radio access. --- --- --- Too Early Little Sisters Again : The writers defined the game with certain images in mind (I remember the Big Daddy and Little Sisters on the Game Box several years before I bought it) so they just created the rest of the game around those images. I think it wasn't until BS2 with the BD(Delta)+LS(Eleanor?) at Kashmir before they elaborated that the 'Gathering'/Bonding was to have happened that early (previously no BS1 in-game details were specified). They really did not have to have the 'Sofia kills Delta in front of LS Eleanor' to coincide with the Kashmir Incident in BS2's plot, and thus needlessly introduce that illogical timing constraint(there was no reason to 'gather BEFORE the Civil War). Then the BaS DLC re-foisted the same TOO EARLY LS, again no matter how illogical for it to be that early EXCEPT to prop-up the bizarre Sally-Elizabeth plot fragments. Maybe some MMORPG Canon repairing Creativity can allow good explanations that this scene wasn't as has been portrayed. Now if I was running things in Rapture (or they didn't unaccountably make Ryan into an inept loser), then no LS would be out on the streets (they were supposed to be too important, source of ADAM, etc... Civil War being fought, and all). The Splicer corpses would be brought in by the BD/others into fortified positions (Safe Splicer Recycling Centers ... no 'deposit' paid because it would encourage 'murder'). But then that's not quite as exciting : No ambushing Big Daddies to get their Little Sister, no nice corpses laying about for that homey 'ruins' atmosphere, less of the cute banter from the LS, and the whole Harvest vs. Save thing (which was supposed to give you the so-called 'moral choice') gone. Attacking the Little Sister Fortress maybe could have been a plausible thing (BDs to the rescue), but not quite as cute a scene of them wandering about (we're left merely with BD fights to capture the forts or ambushing them, sans LS, as the ADAM couriers).... Maybe we (in-game) just got run through the crappier/chaotic parts of Rapture each time ? Or those were Bootlegger's (or Atlas/Fontaine's) LS+BD - he didnt care if they were slaughtered, plenty of human fodder amongst his followers... Awful Idea - Why should the Little Sisters be the ONLY ones that can remove 'ADAM' from corpses ? That could lead to some creepy scenes, and even activity for the Player. Your sucking of green goop out of a corpse isn't quite as bad as murdering a child, no? (That is still happening when you 'Harvest' even if they tried to not show the gristly task.) And when you come down to it, there really WASN'T any real moral Choice - so not much lost there. --- --- --- Civil Control Administration ''' : pix '''All able-bodied un-modified citizens of Rapture, Notice to Report (poster seen in various places) : This Offers No real details (the finer print is unreadable) - So is open to interpretation about what would happen with the people who 'reported'. Did Ryan actually need to have yet more ADAM crazed people in his City? Fewer people to later 'Cure', the better. Arm them with guns and training and use THAT to counter the crazy Splicers with their 'magical' powers. This would be BEFORE the 'Pheromone Control' effectively nullify Atlas's Splicer army. That control would give Ryan some control over his own troops (the ones who had already 'Spliced' but were smart/sane enough to back Ryan) -- Like (eventually) 'Calm them ALL down' so he could keep the city running). IT WOULD be better that all the critical people who sustained Rapture's existence NOT be made crazy/impaired, if possible. For much of the game, Ryan is shown to be hesitant to impair citizens 'Free Will', even to his own determent and to the advantage of Rapture's enemies. So why would he suddenly change so drasticly ? REMEMBER - Those who were already Splice-crazed had already surrendered much of their 'Free Will' to ADAM (and many were imposing their destructiveness on other Citizens) and the Pheromone Control (so much bemoaned in the game to paint Ryan as 'the villain') was a method to control the destructiveness of people in that condition including those being employed by Rapture's enemies. --- --- --- That Exaggerated 'Out of Work' Construction Worker Issue : Only a fraction of the workers who worked to build Rapture ever got to live there. Only a small fraction of Raptures citizens were construction workers, and most of those moved on to other jobs (as they we told to plan to do as large-scale construction was not going to last for long in Rapture). - Massive prefabrications made elsewhere and transported to Rapture's location, where the components were assembled. - Entire small buildings (which when filled with air can actually float) could be built far away and towed to the site. - Automation technology that greatly increased the work which individual workers could do (also meaning many were not grunt laborers but machine operating specialists who handled/repaired/maintained construction machines - skills transferable to many other jobs in Rapture's industries). Ryan's Surface Construction Businesses did alot of the work. Ryan would very well know that many of his employees would NOT be suitable to live in Rapture, and he would take measures to make sure they never needed to be there (and not even get close to it --- to meet his secrecy needs). All workers who went to Rapture were vetted (should have been) like everyone else (and the ones who saw the City were TOLD up-front what kind of place it would be and WHAT the Rules were - The game makers seemed to like portraying Ryan as stupid - The Plot called for It ...). Many workers who were slated to stay (those already committed and were allowed to work at Rapture) were partially paid with the rights/ownership of a Residence in Rapture (making them NOT 'homeless' when the construction jobs dried up). Some number of prudent construction workers would have saved up money and avoided potentially risky speculation (was not that long after the Depression that taught at least a few people what to avoid). Likewise 'Banks Failing' would be only some fraction as recent history had shown the shortcomings of unsecured loans. Simplistic strawmen are not an element found in 'great' games. Developers need to pay more attention, especially when such things take just a little more consideration and actually require very little extra work to implement. Lazy/ignorant developers don't care and set no priority for such things. --- --- --- Ryan's Alleged Tyranny : Smugglers, who effectively steal from those who would produce goods IN Rapture - initially they were just common criminals. The smuggling of Religious items emphasized by the game makers had little to do with Ryan not caring for organized religion, but was simply smuggled contraband like all the rest of the things smuggled -- largely repeated (for want of more game assets) newspapers, films, and booze(which I would have though they had more than enough of being produced in Rapture). If you wanted organized religion, Rapture was a stupid place to go to. Smugglers, after the City was closed off from the Surface, became a liability endangering the City (it was the middle of the Cold War and the Russian or Americans WOULD have come and tried to takeover/destroy Rapture). Except for people who tried to assassinate Ryan, smugglers were the only criminals that got the death penalty (and often it was just the organizers). Ryan's City did not have a large 'police' force (they would be one of the 'tools of oppression' he so disliked), so when Splicers started murdering people wholesale, he did not have alot of resources to combat them. His increase of security measures was in reaction to the mayhem being caused by Splicers (who were being assisted/facilitated by Fontaine). Ryan allowed the Citizenry to arm themselves. War measures of curfews and restricted movement dont constitute tyranny (unless you are willing to call FDR that for those same things). Ryan did not start the use of Little Sisters, he added the Big Daddies after the ADAM shortage crises (inherited from Fontaine) was a critical problem (the ADAM addiction perpetrated by Fontaine had to be maintained until cures could be developed). Big Daddies increase/maintained ADAM production without having to increase the number of Little Sisters. Without the ADAM supply, a huge number of people in Rapture were going to go insane, not the best thing to happen if the City and Citizens were to continue to survive. Prisoners who volunteered for research - This was started under Fontaine (and existed in the US about that same time). Some unfortunates of the experiments were living dead (Novel shows Fontaine seeing the results of the various early 'experiments' - though notice he did not order them to be stopped, and if anything increased that research). Children being 'kidnapped' to make into Little Sisters - effectively started by Fontaine in his 'Orphanages' which look to have been set up for them to be used as Little Sisters (not mentioned in his advertisements..). Do any of the stories say that it is Ryan's men who actually do kidnapping? (Remember Stanley Poole...) Were the majority of the Little Sisters 'converted' while Fontaine was still in control of his organizations? Did Ryan shut down the Orphanages? (they never bothered to mention this...) Pheromone Control - used on Splicers to try to control their destructive activities -- which included trying to destroy Ryan's control of the City - murdering people in the streets and wrecking the economy AND incentivising more people to become Splicers to defend themselves. That Pheromone Control was used in the 'civil war' Naming it a 'civil war' is inaccurate. It was more a Terrorist Campaign by a thug seeking power, and using the usual "Useful Idiots"( A term Coined by Lenin) to help him seize power. by Ryan to nullify Fontaine/Atlas's barely controllable Splicer army (used on Splicers who already lost most of their 'free-will' to ADAM addiction and the resulting insanity) so that his forces could win and restore order (this is the state of things at the start of BS1). Ryan would seek to keep the City running and find and implement a solution. Eliminating Atlas's large-scale disruptions was necessary. Ryan often did not institute stronger (oppressive) security measure until long after they were seen as necessary. He believed that people would figure it out themselves and tyranny was no solution. He closed off Apollo Square as a center of Atlas followers and dumped people who supported Atlas's side into that containment. Fontaine or Sofia Lamb would have simply murdered their opponents (and had). Many times, even when Fontaine was known to be a Smuggler, Ryan required and enforced due process (like using real evidence) in order to arrest and remove Fontaine. NOTE - It is actually an absurdity that such a large Smuggling operation (big enough to make Fontaine so much money) could be 'hidden' (unproven) for so long (like 6 years ?). Unfortunately, Fontaine seems to have had no problem killing informants/witnesses, bribing constables and causing major disruptions to side-track Justice in Rapture. Sealing off Rapture from The Surface - was part of the original plan (anyone who went there knew about the attempts at secrecy and self-sufficiency from the start). Cold War- Anyone who understands what that historically entailed had no problem with Ryan's justifications. Those who threatened Raptures safety by continuing contact with the Surface were traitors who could doom all of Rapture (that was made clear to all, and those who continued to endanger the city knew that if caught they would pay the price.). - Ryan Not Caring For 'The Poor'. ''' Ryan's Philosophy and that of his City was made plain to anyone who was going there. A majority of the 'Construction Workers' (and NOT thousands) were largely machine operators (Rapture was mostly built with machines and automation) who long-term were understood to have to eventually get new jobs, and many did. The major economic strife was actually caused by Fontaine/Atlas's violence which disrupted large parts of the City. Many of the people who called for taking from some citizen's (via taxes) to give to the 'poor' were doing so only for their own gain of power (Fontaine says this himself). Rapture had already ridden out an earlier economic recession years previous and had survived and resurged. A few people name Ryan a tyrant and that was what WE were mostly presented with (Audio Diaries) in the game. But then 'Ryan is evil' was part of the plot to foist Atlas as our friend and 'ally' to follow like a sheep. --- --- --- '''Ryan Profiting from the War - That's Pure Garbage : "RYAN WILL SELL MORE PLASMIDS -- DERRRRP !!!!!" More of the writers trying to smear Ryan (YOU then ignorantly FOLLOW Atlas to carry out crimes for him). Wars are costly. Besides the basic destruction/deaths, there is also the disruption of the normal economy and the uncertainty/distraction of the Citizens. Since Ryan's holdings were a large percentage of the 'Establishment', any 'War Profits' (and the Losses) would be coming 'out of his own pocket' anyway, AND with far more damage and loss for him. The same logic goes for Sinclair somehow wanting to 'Arm' people who wanted to kill him (Atlas's terrorists) in his Home Defense product testing. (( That can be de-emphasized as Canon because it was sloppily used to facilitate the Multi-Player DLC's side plot)). --- --- --- "Brain Bleach" Tonic - Solution To The NOBODY CAN LEAVE Issue : An attempt (project requested by Ryan) to get a Mind Wipe therapy to use on people being ejected from Rapture (versus just volunteering them to die, like Sofia Lamb would). Something like it is used as part of 'the Cure' in the Clinic to repair brain damage caused by ADAM Disease. ADAM can do so many other things so easily, WHY NOT THIS (Easy - it would ruin the Dystopian Story). Excuses could be made that it worked too well, and Ryan's Philosophy wouldn't allow him to STEAL peoples minds/personality/menmories. Perhaps something like this WAS used in cleaning up Big Daddy Brains to take in their Conditioning and Training. --- --- --- Vagueness To Cover The Unexplainable : Rapture, the people and place in the game, was very similar to the real world of that time (late 40s), much less the phonied-up Strawman hit-piece against American Values the later (Infinite BS) game wholly degenerated into. Rapture's form of society was too recent in memory for the audience, and ignorance could be easier to cultivate for that longer ago Columbia 1900 time (sidestepping the much discussed incoherency and screwups of that later BS game's production). It would need to be vague, for the issues which were portrayed : Objectivism, Capitalism, Individulism (which WERE more prevalent in America at that time) so as to be labeled/demonstrated as flawed by the writers' story. Unfortunately those writers are the product of a time 50 years later, who seem severely ignorant of how people thought at that earlier time in history (( '' and if NOT ignorant they seemed unwilling to show that times reality to the Players -- of whom many may be similarly ignorant '' )). Rapture was initially NOT a Dystopia (any more than America at that time, or even America today), when it was hit by a "Shock" - a THREAT that could overcome Society's safeguards and stability mechanisms (and it would do that EVEN MORE easily today). That NEW THREAT was rather contrived (the logic was too odd/faulty - to force the story), and shown to fully and quickly overcome Rapture (to simplistically fit the Twists needs). The writers totally disregarding what the people there (like reals people of that earlier time) were capable of -- The rules which they THEN had lived under, and the social mechanisms which COULD handle such a disruption IF they were allowed to (The Rapturites had been through a recent Great Depression and World War, which had tested them FAR beyond people living in our (YOUR) current 'so safe' World). -- For the MMORPG's story, there would have remained plenty enough left intact for Ryan and the many remaining sane people to rebuild his dream. The original story conveniently (and bizarrely mid-story) killed him, and made that impossible to happen. The MMORPG has Rapture not quite as dead (nor quite as destroyed by Lamb/Fontaine/ADAM) just a few years later trying to rebuild. --- --- --- Filtered Reality : Everything in the game (BS1) was designed/contrived to force you into a certain mindset, so that they could spring 'the Twist' on you. The Player was obviously being manipulated to swallow Fontaine's lies (Note- the tragic mood music for the little "Fake Atlas family blown-up in the Sub by that evil Ryan" scene. There was no real music -- it was simply pressure upon the Player, who is used to cues like that in-game to help tell them what's going on (in this case not knowing they are having a lie FORCED upon them). Now that you have realized that deception, go back and look at everything the writers did in your game experience - everything you are shown is fairly one-sided or vague (vagueness also meant less work too - less possible to have jarring contradictions in the storylines - handy when you are in a rush to deadline). Jack could even be mentally blocking things out (your perception as a Player) as he was Fontaine's creature with his mind shaped to order, and could have been preconditioned to go against anything Ryan believed in (that, besides the excuse of being compelled to do things more directly by WYK, as is later revealed). ((As mentioned elsewhere, Jack's mind is artificial/incomplete from what a REAL person of his age should have, and that in itself warps whatever we think we are shown from his point of view.)) Probably Jack had munched on many tasty BBQ'd Splicers (!Incinerated corpses) on his way as he traveled across Rapture, and could have murdered lots of 'normal' people (Ryan Supporters) along the way without YOU being conscious of it. How would you really know ? I suppose, if they (game writers) were more clever, they could have had you be shown to be head-injured in the crash, and subjected you to visual/auditory effects caused by it, and have at least a little of something hinting that your thinking is impaired. That is, if (to preserve that plot 'twist') they wanted a reason/excuse to NOT ever show direct evidence/clues that contradicted/confused the forced perceptions. At the end of BS1, did Atlas really look like that ? Or was it again the result of Jack's heavy use of ADAM in a very short time that completely addled his brain (along with who knows what that Dr Tenenbaum did to him later - SHE could manipulate Jack for her own purposes also...). Is it a remnant of the conditioning/mind-shaping that would have Fontaine look like a god, to be able to obtain obedience when needed (and Fear otherwise), and some of that influence remained (undisabled by Tenenbaum) which made 'god Fontaine' harder to destroy than he should have been (notice that WE (Jack) don't actually get him in the end in that precanned Boss Fight ending). --- --- --- Interesting In-Game Sign - Reward for Smuggler Info : http://www.game-archivist.com/rapture/img/museum/signs/fullsize/Rapture_Proclamation.jpg All those heavy handed contrived plot-line machinations - We are told how addictive ADAM was and how it allegedly drove so many to the disastrous extremes we witnessed. It is very odd that Ryan's men could NOT after several years seem to find/prove Fontaine's smuggling operation (With those large fixed facilities at Smugglers Hideout existing and all the people involved - it would be rather hard to cover up for long). Here (in the picture) we have plenty enough (300) ADAM offered for such info to make any Splicer salivate, and cutoff their own toes to get ahold of. More than enough to persuade a multitude of informants to not just 'inform', but maybe even deliver Fontaine's head on a platter -- no matter what coercion he was capable of. A little more care should have been given to make this much more plausible (design it right, and it does not cost any more money to create the story correctly). (( '' Again, yes its a Blast-Fest game, and alot of this stuff was window-dressing for that. But they obviously went to frequent efforts to make the game plots more than two dimensional, and doing it right only takes the desire to actually do so. '' )) --- --- --- --- --- --- "Bathyspheres Surface Carrying Splicers, Who Slaughter the Crew and Apparently Capture the Submarine and Its Missiles" - Bizarre, But Unlikely. Evil Jack gets hisself a nuke ? Or apparently not ? Speculation ? Who says they (Splicers) captured the Sub ?? Apparently nothing much came of this, whichever way it went, for the storyline of BS2 to follow. Imagine a nuclear depth charge going off at Rapture, after the US Navy understood that one or more nuclear warhead had fallen into the hands of some unknown enemies. The plane crash investigation position WAS reported after all. The nuclear depth charge concussion will instantly crush every building and turn every inhabitant into tasty fishfood. In any case, Ballistic Missile subs (Boomers) would not be sent to investigate a jetliner/plane crash (this is in the middle of the Cold War, and none of the 'Boomers' would EVER have had orders to do such a thing). Likely no sub would, as surface ships and airplanes are much better at doing such a mission. The US had a naval air station at Keflavik Iceland (south western tip of Iceland). --- --- --- "Use of the phrase "Would You Kindly" - Actually Jack Hijacked the Plane after READING that Phrase on a Note Attached to his "Gift" : Anybody thought of that before - that this particular WYK is a textual instruction (versus all the other trigger usages being verbal). Conditioning-wise it is a whole different thing, but it is likely Jack had been programmed with both types of trigger (so it is not illogical to have that flexibility). BUT, if that was therefore to work, THEN here is a good *Twist* for the Game : In Ryan's Lair, in Rapture Central Control, the words "Would You Kindly" are on the wall in BIG letters (hard NOT to see them). Seeing that should have had some effect on Jack (Like make him stand there endlessly waiting for the following instruction command). --- --- --- Something Not Really Mentioned in the Game(s) - Their GULAG is a Buzzword : Persephone was a Prison (Detention/Correctional Facility) that is made to appear, by the developers, to contain only Ryan's political 'opponents', when the actual contents (possibly the majority) were common criminals (excluding late era smugglers who were publicly hung as Traitors to the City). After ADAM insanity became a major problem, the facility effectively also became a place to warehouse large numbers of the criminally/violently insane -- requiring extensive 'pacification' facilities/processes (which we saw). As the ADAM problem increased, the Prison likely became quite full (with the usual overcrowding problems). Apparently Ryan's Regime didn't believe in simply murdering problematic people as Fontaine and Lamb did. Medical research on inmates was nothing new in that realworld era (notice the posters asking inmates to volunteer in exchange for perks) and other work trying to 'pacify' violent inmates probably left many as walking zombies. Sinclair supposedly gained control of the facility when Ryan needed someone to try to keep it under control. Sinclair first rented inmates (in what state?) to Fontaine Industries for Plasmid testing and some were used to create the first Alphas. Later inmates were made into Big Daddies. Sofia Lamb cooperated with this, while in Persephone Prison, and used her manipulative ways to 'select' candidates for research... (One wonders (not that much) if she simply choose those who would NOT be useful to her over those she knew she could talk into doing her bidding.) "Charged with speaking against Andrew Ryan and his policies" -- If it was Rephrased to be : "Publicly Calling for Ryan's Death and for Seizing control of all of Rapture" --- That kind of sounds a bit different, doesn't it, when it is put that way. --- --- --- --- --- . .